Monkey D Phoenix
by Pirate Writer
Summary: HP/OP Luffy has an adopted younger sister who used to be Paige Potter. She disappeared from Fuusha Village when Luffy was 14, and now he is ready to become a pirate and make her a part of his crew. All he has to do is find her...
1. I'm Coming For You

**So, I've rewritten this story, because whenever I go to write the next few chapters I can't get it to flow. I'm hoping this attempt is better, and there is more in it. I hope you enjoy this more.**

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><p><strong>Monkey D Phoenix<strong>

**Harry Potter and One Piece Fanfiction**

**Chapter 1 ~ I'm Coming For You...**

The Wanted Poster had been dropped onto the bench soundlessly, the boy staring at it with a range of feelings. Shock was prominent, joy was small but getting bigger, and relief was almost overpowering. Fifteen year old Monkey D Luffy was stunned into silence, a rare sight to behold, but nonetheless the poster before him meant the world to him.

It had been a whole year since he had last seen his younger sister, a year of hoping that she was still alive despite what everyone else was saying, and a year of worrying. Tears filled his eyes, worrying Makino the bar keeper momentarily, but the blinding smile on his face was confusing her. She had never seen him in such a state, not even when Ace got his first bounty a few months ago. She looked over at the Wanted Poster, curious as to who could provoke such a reaction from the usually insanely happy boy.

"Who's that Luffy?" she asked. She turned the poster around so that she could see it better and gasped as she recognised the child in the photo.

"She's alive," Luffy whispered, his voice thick with tears. "Phoenix is alive."

"That's impossible," Makino breathed, though she didn't doubt Luffy, especially not after seeing the poster. Staring back at her was a young girl, between ten and twelve years old. Her long dark hair was pulled back under a yellow bandana, only allowing a few strands to dangle across her face. Blood dripped down her cheeks from a head wound and various cuts across her face, staining her clothes red. She looked to be in pain, yet her green eyes were bright and she was smiling off camera at someone. She looked terrifying, covered in blood but smiling, yet Makino would recognise that smile anywhere.

"How did she survive?" Makino asked, setting the poster back down and staring at the boy.

"Phoenix is special," was all he said. "Ever since we were little she's been able to do things no one else could. Do you think Ace has seen this?"

"Not a doubt in my mind," Makino said with a smile, seeing the boy she knew return to normal. "After all, her starting bounty is very impressive. Not many people get 70 Million Berries as a beginning bounty."

"I'm going to beat it," Luffy said, standing up as his tears dried up. "I'm going to find the best nakama, go to the Grand Line, and become the King of the Pirates!"

The other customers were looking his way, some smiling, some shaking their heads, but none seemed to doubt him. He'd been saying the same thing since he was seven and Red-Haired Shanks had given him his hat. Conversations started up around them, about how Luffy was becoming his old self again. There had been a slight fear from everyone that the D Brothers would storm the Marine Base and attack them in retaliation for what they had done. Vice-Admiral Garp hadn't been seen in town since the attack, and tension was noticeably high within the family. Many thought it was best that the Marines stayed away for a while, until tempers cooled somewhat.

Luffy walked out of the bar smiling, the Wanted Poster clutched tightly in his hand and the treasured straw hat sitting on his head. He started to sing, off-key, as he walked to the ocean where he would spend his time every day. Villagers stopped to watch him past, some going to the pub to find out what had happened. It wasn't long until the entire village knew that one of their own was still alive.

Monkey D Paige, or Phoenix as Luffy called her, was still alive.

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><p>Luffy remembered the first time he met Phoenix, though she hadn't gone by that name to begin with. She had introduced herself as Paige, but not much more than that. She had been very quiet, and she could move around as if she were nothing more than a shadow. You wouldn't even notice her until she was right next to you, and by then she could have done any number of things all in the name of Fun. He had been nine years old when Grandpa Garp had introduced her to them, and she was instantly their ally in everything they did…though they did try to protect her as she was a girl.<p>

She was good though, and exceptionally fast. Nothing could hit her if she didn't want it to. Even during their daily duels to get stronger they wouldn't be able to hit her, and Ace stopped going easy on her when she crippled him with a fast kick between his legs. They could never beat her, but they did get faster because of her. She would disappear during the day sometimes, always saying that she was training, but she was three years younger than Luffy so every time she disappeared, the two brothers would search for her.

"_Why do run off?" Luffy had asked her once. They had been lying in their little hut, 'Luffy's Country', and Ace had already disappeared into his own hut, 'Ace's Country', so they could talk without being overheard._

"_To train," Paige told him simply._

"_But why can't you train with us?" Luffy moaned. "We can help."_

"_But I'm not fighting," Paige stated. "I'm practising so when I go out to sea I will be ready."_

"_Ready for what?"_

"_To do my job. There are many souls stuck here, and they need to be set free so that they can be at peace. It's my job to get them to leave."_

"_Souls?" Luffy tilted his head in confusion._

"_Uh huh, when people die, their souls can either go onto the next great adventure, or remain here and wither away. It's bad if that happens," Paige explained._

"_But why do you have to do it?"_

"_Because I'm the Master of Death," Paige stated easily. "I can see the trapped souls, hear them crying out for anyone to answer them, and I have the ability to help them."_

She wasn't really able to explain more than that, and Luffy hadn't understood that much anyway. As the years went on and they grew, Paige demonstrated a few of her powers, the main one being that she was unable to die.

The first time it had happened, Paige was eight at the time, the three of them had been running from a bunch of pirates wanting them dead for one reason or another, and instead of dodging the bullets Paige had jumped in front of them so that Luffy and Ace wouldn't get hit. They carried her away as she 'died' in their arms, but as they watched her wounds glowed softly before healing, leaving nothing but a scar behind. When she woke up she explained a bit more about what she was.

"_The Master of Death is someone who can command the dead, while at the same time being forever barred from death. I won't ever die, and in payment for that I am required to help those who are dead to move on. The number of times I've died and woken up again is depressing, but the stories the dead tell are pretty interesting."_

"_So you can't die?" Ace asked._

"_No," Paige said with a nod. "I can also turn into a phoenix, but I haven't perfected it yet so I'm still practising."_

"_What's a phoenix?" Luffy asked curiously, still clinging to her as he was worried she would die if he let go._

"_A fire bird," Paige explained. "My song will help those move on, and as soon as I master the transformation, I'm going to help the souls in the Grey Terminal move on, there are so many there that I can't go there without getting a headache. A phoenix is also referred to as the mythical bird of life and death, as when a phoenix dies it is just reborn from the ashes, to begin life again."_

"_How many times have you been reborn?" Ace asked suspiciously._

"_Enough times to know that even as a midget I can kick your ass."_

It was shortly after that that Luffy decided to call her Phoenix, and Ace caught onto the name until no one aside from Grandpa Garp actually called her Paige again. The two brothers swore her in as their sister, which helped as Garp had apparently adopted her and given her his name. Thus she was known as Monkey D Phoenix.

Phoenix was also infinitely more comfortable when it was just her and the boys. She hated crowds with a passion, and she was also uncomfortable in small spaces. She didn't panic, she just didn't like being trapped. The boys understood, somewhat, and made sure that whenever they were in town she was between them and thus 'protected' from danger.

And then everything changed when she was eleven.

Luffy scowled as the thought crossed his mind again. It had only been a year, but still just thinking about the attack was hard. It had been the one time that Grandpa Garp was visiting and not training them, just bonding over the fact that Ace would soon leave to forge his own destiny. Garp still thought that he was going to be a marine, but Ace was definitely going to become a pirate. Somehow, the conversation ended up around Phoenix's future, and Garp told her that she would join the marines, marry a marine, or get thrown into Impel Down for possessing a power greater than that of the Devil Fruits.

No one had liked that, and Phoenix had stormed off to be on her own. That had been the last time they had all been together. Slavers had been in town, and as soon as they spotted Phoenix on her own, they trapped her with a group of children and carried them onto their ship. No one really knew what had happened on that ship, only that all the children who had been caught had swum to shore after sliding off the back of the ship and Phoenix hadn't made it off. The marines had charged in to rescue everyone, but in doing so they accidently blew up the slavers' ship, killing all who had been aboard.

Luffy's last glimpse of his sister was her standing on the railing, calling his name, before flames enveloped her body and the ship exploded. He had been the only one to believe she still lived, and Ace had believed that it was possible, but they had never found her body. The marines responsible for the destruction of the ship were reprimanded for not searching for prisoners first, and acting without thinking, but Garp ensured that the marines were as far from his grandsons as he could make them.

He hadn't returned to the island after that, and only a few months later Ace had left to go and search for her.

"I'm almost ready Phoenix," he whispered, staring out across the ocean. "Just two more years, then I'll find you, and help with your mission. I promise."

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><p><strong>Two Years Later…<strong>

They had arrived at Lougetown, the town of Beginnings and Endings, the last stop before reaching the Grand Line. Luffy almost couldn't believe that he had made it so far in just a short amount of time. He had only left Fuusha Village, his home, two months previously, and now he was almost to the ocean where he would find everything he had ever wanted and searched for:

The legendary treasure, the One Piece, and his little sister, Phoenix.

He had gathered a small crew so far, just another four people. Zoro, a swordsman he had blackmailed into joining; Nami, a navigator and thief he had chased down in order to keep her on his crew; Usopp, a liar with too much pride who had leapt at the chance to be a pirate; and Sanji, a cook who had been worn down enough that he joined just to get Luffy to stop pestering him. They were great, and very diverse in what they liked and didn't like. They also had their own pirate ship, the _Going Merry_, which they had received at Usopp's home town as a thank-you gift for defeating the Black Cat Pirates.

As soon as they docked, Luffy announced that he was off to find the place where people were killed, and vanished before anyone could order him not to. It was his intention to find the execution platform before they left for the Grand Line, just so that he could see what Gol D Roger saw before his death, but that was not his main priority. He was scouting for information.

Every island they had docked at so far, including those ships they bumped into on the open water, Luffy went off and did his own thing in order to hear news that he wouldn't normally get back in Fuusha. He wanted to find Phoenix, needed to find her and see her with his own eyes, but any news he learnt was old. The most recent news he had gotten was from Hawk-Eyes Mihawk, the greatest swordsman in the world, and that was only that he knew her well and that last he had heard she was making her way to the Grand Line, but not where.

Since Lougetown was the last stop before the Grand Line, there would be plenty of people talking about big-name pirates and with any luck he would have a destination in mind for when they started to explore. He could hear Usopp yelling at him as he disappeared into the crowd, and a grin crossed his face briefly before it faded and he ducked into the nearest alleyway. He was quite proud of how he had managed to trick his crew into thinking he couldn't navigate his way out of a paper bag, but truthfully he knew exactly where he was. It was one of the tricks Phoenix had taught him and Ace when they were younger, navigation, plus reading body language, and becoming invisible whilst staying in plain sight.

"I heard Phoenix had been caught."

Luffy froze and leant against the nearest wall, spotting the talking man immediately. He and two others were sitting at a bar, clearly drunk, but Luffy figured they were bounty hunters as one had a huge pile of Wanted Posters in his hand, flicking through them to look for the next big catch.

"No way, no one can catch the Phoenix," his friend muttered, not believing the man. "The Marines have been trying to catch her for years, if she doesn't want to be caught she won't be."

"I know that," the first man snapped. "But I have a Contact in Alabasta, Crocodile caught her, but he didn't know if Crocodile had handed her over to the Marines."

"Maybe he wanted to recruit her, for whatever the reason," the third man wondered aloud. "I heard she's still really young, she doesn't look much older than twelve on her poster."

"She's a Demon," the second man cut in, still not believing the other two. "I saw her once, about a year ago. She died in front of me, I'm absolutely positive about it, but as I watched her killers' crowd around her, her body started to glow and she got up as if she had just fallen asleep. It was most unnatural, I want nothing to do with her."

"Chicken," the first man chuckled. "Oh well, is there anyone in this ocean we can track down?"

"Newest bounties came out today," the third man said, ruffling through the posters in his hand. "There's a new rookie making his mark on the world, some kid in a straw hat. Thirty million he's worth."

"Thirty million? From this sea? What the hell did he do?" the other two asked in shock.

"Who cares? It's a good bounty, and he's probably on his way here before heading off to the Grand Line. A bounty like that means he won't be here for long."

Luffy chuckled to himself before disappearing and walking off. His hat shadowed his eyes as he thought over what he had heard, and it scared him. He knew that Phoenix could escape from anywhere, but whether she would or not depended on who was around her. The only reason the slavers had gotten her was because there had been other children nearby and if she had fought they would have been hurt. He had no idea who Crocodile was, but if he had caught her he was probably planning on doing something horrible.

He needed to get to Alabasta as fast as possible.

Forcing a smile onto his face, Luffy ran off towards the execution platform. They would be leaving soon, and the platform was one of his reasons for even wanting to come to this island. Phoenix was strong, and would wait for him, but that didn't mean he was going to delay much longer.

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><p><strong>One Week Later…<strong>

Luffy stared down at the little girl they had picked up from the water. She was really young, possibly about eight or nine years old, and her eyes were wide and hopeful. Her name was Apis, and she really wanted to get home, and no one on the crew had any problems with taking her back home…no one except for Luffy. He wanted to go to the Grand Line as soon as possible, and feared that any delay meant that Phoenix would disappear from his life again. But, looking down at her he couldn't say no. Phoenix would be disappointed in him if he turned his back on a child asking for help.

"Sure, we'll take you home," he said, grinning wide enough that his cheeks hurt. "We're in no rush."

He really hoped that no one caught his lie, but from the corner of his eye he noticed that Zoro looked at him sharply with a confused look on his face. He hadn't told his crew about his family, and they hadn't told him about theirs. He didn't care for their pasts, all he cared was that they would be strong enough to support him as they worked towards their dreams.

Apis jumped around in joy, her laughter sending small daggers of pain straight into Luffy's heart. He walked out of the cabin and leapt onto his special seat, the figurehead of the _Going Merry_. Nami would start barking orders to get the ship moving shortly, but he wanted this time to send an apology to Phoenix for being delayed again. His eyes fastened onto the black band on left wrist, and he grasped it tightly as he closed his eyes.

"I'm going to be a little late Phoenix," he whispered, sensing Zoro come up behind him. "Just wait a little longer for me."

Zoro said nothing as he came closer, but he got the feeling that there was more to Luffy's rush to the Grand Line than excitement. He made no mention of it, but he knew that his silent presence meant a lot to Luffy. The boy captain turned and smiled, leaping off the figurehead in order to get to work.

"It'll be alright Zoro," Luffy told him. "Don't worry about me."

"Don't hide," Zoro told him, a frown on his face. "You've been there for us, so let us be there for you."

"It can wait," Luffy promised. "Like I said before, we're in no rush to get to the Grand Line."

"Maybe _we're_ not," Zoro admitted. "But _you_ are desperate to get there. I don't know why, but if you want to vent I'm here to listen."

"Thanks Zoro."

The two looked at each other, and then darted off to get the ship moving. They needed to get to Warship Island…after that they could sail to the Grand Line.

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><p><strong>Three Days Later…<strong>

The Grand Line. It had taken longer than Luffy thought it should, but they were at the entrance to the Grand Line and gaining information from Crocus, the lighthouse keeper, on how to navigate. Well, Nami was learning about how to navigate, Sanji was cooking, Usopp was fixing the ship, Zoro was sleeping and Luffy was painting his pirate mark on Laboon the whale's forehead. They had gotten off to a rocky start, with Luffy firing a cannonball at Laboon, Laboon swallowing them whole, meeting two weirdoes who tried to kill the whale from the inside, and then finally Luffy having a 'spar' with the giant island whale to get him to stop smashing his head against the Red Line.

"There are seven different routes that depart from Reverse Mountain," Crocus explained so that they could all understand him. "But no matter route you take they all lead to the one place, the island at the end of the Grand Line where only one pirate crew is known to have reached…Raftel."

"Raftel…" Nami breathed, excitement in her eyes.

"That's it!" Usopp cried. "That _must_ be where the One Piece is hidden!"

"That's the most promising theory," Crocus told him. "But no one has been able to set foot on Raftel Island since Roger."

Luffy was almost bouncing on his seat in excitement. He couldn't wait to get to the end, but he also knew that the path he took now would determine if he was to meet up with Phoenix again. Crocus started to talk about something called a Log Pose, and Luffy pulled out a small compass like device that he had found on the ship. He figured that the weirdoes they had caught and then tossed overboard had dropped it, but all Luffy got for his trouble was a punch to the head when Nami demanded to know why he hadn't mentioned that he had one until that moment.

While Nami was inspecting the new device, Luffy slunk over to Crocus to talk to him without bothering the others.

"Hey, which route is Alabasta on?"

"Alabasta? Why would you want to go there?" Crocus asked curiously.

"My sister's waiting for me there," Luffy explained happily. "I haven't seen her in forever, and I know she's there."

"Whiskey Peak would be your best shot," Crocus eventually told him, staring at Luffy's childlike expression of excitement with an indulging smile. "It's a few islands in, but you will get there eventually."

Luffy cheered and jumped back to Nami to stare at her map over her shoulder, bugging her about the route instantly. Sanji chose that moment to kick Luffy across the face for crowding Nami, and accidently broke the Log Pose as the change in air currents shattered the protective glass casing. Nami, absolutely furious, threw the two boys into the ocean, not caring that Luffy couldn't swim, and with a sweat-drop Crocus promised that she could use his spare one as a thank-you for helping with Laboon.

The rubber captain, however, was too excited to be bothered with his near drowning experience. Sanji had saved him, and the two weirdoes from before, and as the two weirdoes wanted to go to Whiskey Peak Luffy agreed to take them. Nothing could remove the smile from his face, they were finally on their way and he couldn't have been happier. His crew put it down to him being on the Grand Line and living his dream, but Zoro knew that there was more to it. Still, he didn't want to be ordered around by Nami and settled down to sleep for a while, he would think over Luffy's behaviour while he slept.

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><p><strong>One Day Later…<strong>

Arriving at Whiskey Peak had been awesome, especially as they had spent a few hours travelling through a storm that kept trying to turn them around and send them back to Reverse Mountain. Being greeted by a cheering crowd was a little odd, but Luffy partied all night and pigged out on food. He passed out long before his crew, but he knew that he had been drugged.

There was a reason Luffy didn't drink or take drugs of any kind…they made him irrational. The smallest change in the environment could send him on a rampage until he was either beaten, or the drugs were purged from his body. He had been drugged once when he was younger, and it had taken both Ace and Phoenix to hold him down before he destroyed their home. Ever since then he had been careful about drugs and alcohol, he didn't want to see Phoenix looking at him in fear again, but food was sacred and he hadn't thought that they would stoop so low as to drug the food he and his crew were eating.

So when he saw the carnage everywhere, and heard one man say that Zoro had slaughtered them all, his already addled mind snapped and his vision went red. The only thought on his mind was to make Zoro pay for hurting the people who had thrown them a party. He wasn't even sure how the whole fight went, but when his mind cleared somewhat as the drugs were purged due to the physical activity, he mentally thanked the fact that Zoro was strong enough to defend against him without dying.

"Oh, they were all bounty hunters?" Luffy asked, laughing slightly. "That explains why the food was drugged."

"You're an idiot," Nami told him with a harsh glare. She turned back to talk to one of the weirdoes from earlier, the one called Miss Wednesday. As she was talking, Luffy turned back to Zoro with a serious expression on his face, and spoke quietly so that Nami wouldn't hear him.

"Sorry Zoro, drugs make my mind black out and I stop thinking."

"I was wondering why you weren't listening to me," Zoro admitted. "I've never seen you like that before."

"Don't let me have alcohol or drugged food and you won't see me like that again," Luffy told him seriously. "Something about how my brain is wired makes it impossible to have those things."

Zoro nodded, but before he could say anything he noticed that Luffy had become slightly more alert in the conversation that Nami and Miss Wednesday were having. He tuned in and realised they were talking about a civil war in a country called Alabasta. Miss Wednesday was actually the princess of Alabasta, Nefatari Vivi, and when the country began down its self-destructive path she infiltrated the organisation behind it in order to discover the culprit, Baroque Works. That had been two years previously.

"You've got some guts, considering you're a princess," Zoro stated, a little impressed at how bold the girl was. "So…were you able to find out what their plan was?"

"To create an ideal nation," Nami stated. "Anyway, that's what Igaram said it was. Is that what you found out?"

Igaram was the guy known as Mr 8, and the mayor of Whiskey Peak. He was also Vivi's loyal bodyguard, and had joined up with her in order to keep her safe. Vivi stared at the older girl before looking down at her knees.

"It's not," she said. "That was only a cover story the boss was using. It's a lie to cover their tracks! Their true goal is to take over Alabasta Kingdom!"

Nami seemed to realise that she wouldn't gain any money out of protecting her, but there was something in Vivi's story that had Luffy feeling tightly wound. He didn't let his unease show, but he did ask for the identity of the Boss of Baroque Works. Vivi freaked out, before blurting out that the mastermind behind everything was one of the Seven Warlords…Crocodile.

_I have a Contact in Alabasta, Crocodile caught her_

"…who?" Luffy asked, his expression frozen in place as he desperately tried to remain calm. Crocodile was the name that bounty hunter had dropped back in Lougetown. Nami started to freak out, but before she could do anything they were interrupted by the arrival of two creatures. They were clearly members of Baroque Works, judging by Vivi's expression, and Nami had a mental meltdown at the thought of already being wanted by a Warlord after just arriving in the Grand Line.

"A Warlord? This should be pretty fun," Luffy stated, cracking his knuckles eagerly in anticipation. Even if Crocodile had just been a bystander in Alabasta, he would have gone and beaten him up just for capturing his sister.

"Not too bad," Zoro agreed.

"Being hunted by a Warlord in the Grand Line? That's more than I can handle!" Nami screamed.

"Relax Nami, it was going to happen sooner or later," Luffy told her with a wide smile.

"Shut up!" she screamed at him. She turned around and started to walk off. "It's been nice knowing you idiots! Thanks for everything!"

"Where are you going?" Luffy called after her, silently worried that she was trying to leave him again.

"They don't know what I look like yet!" she called. "I'm leaving!"

As she turned the corner she noticed that the otter and vulture, the two Baroque Works creatures, were waiting for her holding three detailed drawings of the pirates, waiting for her to see them before flying off.

"Wow, that's so lifelike," Nami praised. She turned back to Luffy and Zoro and cried: "No use in leaving now!"

Luffy sighed in relief, but all he did was laugh. He would never admit it aloud, but he was worried about all his crewmates one day deciding to leave him alone. It was his greatest fear, and he had only ever confided in Phoenix once when they were younger, discussing their futures and what they were afraid of. Luffy was scared that he wouldn't be a good captain, and his friends would decide that their paths would be better off away from his. Phoenix was afraid of forming attachments with people, knowing that she would see them die. They were both somewhat broken, but they had also promised to always be there for the other if they needed help.

With Phoenix missing, Luffy was convinced that he had failed his promise to her.

"Where was she planning on going anyway?" Zoro asked, breaking Luffy from his thoughts. A twisted grin appeared on the swordsman's face. "Well then, it looks like the three of us will be sitting right on top of Baroque Works' hit list."

"That's so awesome," Luffy stated.

Shortly after that Igaram appeared wearing the exact same thing that Vivi was wearing…and he looked awful in it. Luffy just laughed at the image, and agreed to take Vivi home as they were heading that way anyway, and as Igaram sailed off his boat was annihilated. The explosion of fire and wind pushed them back slightly, and for the briefest of moments Luffy felt like he was fourteen years old again, staring out at the slavers ship as cannonballs collided with it, igniting the gunpowder, and causing a massive explosion.

_Luffy!_

"They're already after us?!" Nami screamed, shaking Luffy from his flashback violently. He didn't know it, but his face had gone very pale and his eyes were wider than normal. Zoro managed to snap him out of it, ordering him to get their two sleeping members, Sanji and Usopp, so that they could get off the island and out to sea. Luffy was gone before Zoro had even finished speaking, and as he ran he realised that he felt very cold. Crocodile was a man who ran an organisation devoted to assassination, he clearly had no problem killing to get what he wanted. So then, what did it mean if he had someone who couldn't die in his clutches? What was he doing to her?

He grabbed Usopp by his nose and Sanji by his foot, ignoring both of them as they woke up demanding an explanation, and ran straight to the ship so that they could leave. He had a horrible feeling that something bad would happen to Phoenix if they delayed any longer, or that she would be gone by the time he even made it to Alabasta. He needed to know that she was alright.

His body was almost on autopilot as he got the ship ready to sail, and if anyone noticed his out of character behaviour, they didn't mention it. The sun was just cresting the horizon as the ship left the narrow river, and Luffy stood next to Nami as she started to comment on the light.

"I'm just glad we got away from the people chasing us."

Luffy went still as a new, foreign, voice echoed over the ship. Nami didn't seem to think anything of it as she responded, but Luffy slowly turned so that he was looking up towards the base of Nami's tangerine orchard.

"With all this fog, we need to be careful to avoid the rocks," a dark woman stated calmly. She was dressed in a purple cow-girl outfit, revealing her figure for the world to see with no shame whatsoever.

"I'll take care of it!" Nami stated confidently. Her posture changed suddenly, as she realised that she didn't know who was talking to her. She turned slightly to look at Luffy, hoping that he had been the one to talk, but when she noticed his dark expression she turned further to stare at the new passenger on the ship.

"This ship is nice," the woman stated as everyone turned their attention towards her.

"It's…it's you!" Vivi cried in horror.

"I just happened to run into your dear Mr 8 a while back," the woman continued. "He didn't look so good."

"So _you_ killed Igaram?!"

"What are you doing on my ship?!" Luffy demanded of her, his voice cold. "And how did you get here? Who are you?"

"Answer him!" Vivi yelled. "What are you doing here, Miss All-Sunday?!"

"So you know who she is?" Nami asked. "Which of the numbered guys is she partners with?"

"Her partner is Mr 0, the Boss," Vivi said gravely.

"She's a bad guy?" Luffy asked, his hat shadowing his eyes. He was not in a good mood and he didn't know how long he could keep pretending to be fine. Already Zoro was watching him closely, and it didn't help that he still had some of the drugs in his body to mess him up further.

"She was the only one who knew the Boss' identity," Vivi explained as she continued to glare up at the woman. "That's how we found out who he actually is! By following her back to him!"

"To be accurate… I _allowed_ it," Miss All-Sunday said with an amused smile on her face.

"So she's a good guy then?" Luffy muttered.

"I know you knew we were there!" Vivi yelled, "You're the one who told the boss what we knew! Weren't you?!"

"That's right," she answered in a bored tone.

"Alright so then she is bad!" Luffy finally concluded, pouting and Zoro told him to cut it out.

"You still haven't told us what it is you're doing here!?" Vivi yelled again and Miss All-Sunday was looking annoyed at the rudeness.

"Oh, right," she said coolly, "You were just so serious about the whole thing I couldn't help myself. A princess doing whatever it took to help her country while making herself an enemy of Baroque Works? The idea was just so… ridiculous."

But Vivi was looked enraged as she screamed out at the top of her lungs, "YOU KILLED HHHHHHIIIIIIIMMMMMM!"

The five Straw Hats had leapt into action. Sanji and Usopp were both up on their feet, Usopp with his slingshot loaded on one side, and Sanji on the other with a gun pointed directly at her head. Zoro was below them with Nami, both of them had weapons as well.

"I would really appreciate it if you would…" she said softly, and it all happened so quickly that they all missed seeing what actually happened. She threw the two off the railing, "Stop pointing those at me?"

"You mean…?" Zoro said gasped,

"She's eaten…" Nami went on before her staff and Zoro's sword were knocked out of their hands. And then Zoro finished, "A Devil Fruit?!"

"But which one? What's her power!?" Nami cried out, now standing farther back with the others in front of her like shields. Sanji looked up to get a good look at her and hearts appeared in his eyes.

"Wow!" he gasped, as if he had never seen anything like her before, "now that I get a look… You're beautiful!"

Robin chuckled a little at past Sanji's words before she looked back to Vivi. "Now there's no need to get so excited," she informed her, "You can all calm down. I haven't been given any orders to follow you here. I have no reason to fight you."

Holding up her hand, she used her powers to get hold of Luffy's straw hat—spinning it around on her hand in a bored way. "So, _you're_ the captain," she said, looking over at Luffy. "I've heard so much about you…Monkey D Luffy."

"Give me my hat back!" Luffy yelled enraged, shaking his fists at her. He was already emotionally unbalanced, she wasn't helping by taking away one of the few things that grounded him. "You don't want me to come up there and take it!"

"You are a bad person! I demand you leave this instant!" Usopp yelled from his hiding place behind the mast.

"Bad _luck_," Miss All-Sunday told them as she put Luffy's hat on top of her own before going on, "Picking up a princess who Baroque Works already made up their mind to see eliminated… protected by a mere handful of pirates. But your luck gets even worse. Because of the direction your Log Pose is indicating… you see?"

Nami was looking at their Log in fear as the woman answered. "The name of the next island… is Little Garden."

"We won't even need to lift a finger," Miss All-Sunday finished up. "You'll all be dead long before you reach Alabasta."

"My hat! Give it to me!" Luffy screamed, obviously not caring about anything she said. He didn't care how hard it would be, he was going to get to Alabasta one way or another, even if it killed him.

"Leave now evil… doer!" Usopp yelled.

"Evil-doer?" Zoro repeated, rolling his eye, "_Seriously_?"

"You don't think it's a little foolish allowing yourselves to be wiped out?" Miss All-Sunday asked as she threw back Luffy's hat and something over to Vivi. When she held it up, they saw that it was an Eternal Pose.

"An Eternal Pose?" Vivi whispered as she looked at it suspiciously.

"Using that, you can just skip right past Little Garden without stopping," the woman answered her a little smugly. She also explained that this one island was near Alabasta and that none of their agents know that course so they shouldn't be followed.

"What? So she's good after all?" Nami suddenly asked as she looked up at her, trying to figure out what was going on.

But the gesture seemed to make Vivi angry as she yelled up, "Why are you giving this to us?"

"It's gotta be a trap," Zoro said firmly, but Vivi was staring at the Pose with a wondering expression and they could tell that she was trying to figure out what to do.

"Oh, does it?" Miss All-Sunday asked as Luffy walked over to Vivi and grabbed the Eternal Pose out of her hands.

"Forget your thingy! We don't need it!" he yelled as he then crushed it until it broke into nothing but shards of glass and wood. Nami and Vivi were both looking horrified at what he had done. Nami obviously kicked him hard in the face and knocked him to the deck.

"YOU JERK!" she screamed out, pointing up at Miss All-Sunday. "SHE JUST WENT OUT OF HER WAY TO SHOW US AN EASIER COURSE TO FOLLOW! MAYBE SHE ACTUALLY IS TRYING TO HELP US GET AWAY!"

But Luffy didn't react at all for a moment before he turned to look up at the intruder and declared that she wasn't the one who decided where the ship goes.

"Well, that's too bad," she told them all casually as she walked along the upper deck, looking a little satisfied as she did so. It was as if she was glad that he had decided not to accept her offer.

Nami looked ready to yell again but Luffy answered, "She blew up that funny old man and he was nice so now I hate her."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Miss All-Sunday stated looking back at him. "And I'm sorry you didn't accept my offer. But onto other matters."

"What other matters?" Vivi asked. She was shaking in either fear or anger, but Luffy didn't care about that. His attention had been caught on the necklace Miss All-Sunday pulled from her top. She flung it at the captain and he caught it before bringing it closer to his face so that he could see it clearly. He could sense Nami itching to take it to add it to her collection of jewels, but his hand tightened on the chain and his newly returned hat shadowed the hate growing in his eyes. Zoro put a restraining hand on Nami's arm, warning her off silently.

"Why did you have this?" he asked in a quiet and deadly tone.

"A souvenir," the woman stated carelessly. "She said that you'd come, but I'm afraid with the route you're taking, you will be too late."

"What did you do to her?"

"I believe the Boss has tired of her, he may be in the process of handing her to the marines. Or maybe he's going to keep her for a little longer, who knows?"

"GET OFF MY SHIP!" Luffy roared, and an uncontrolled blast of energy sent the woman off the edge of the ship with wide eyes. She landed on the back of a turtle, and as soon as that turtle saw the promise of pain and death in Luffy's eyes, it swam away as fast as it physically could. Luffy watched them leave, his grip on the necklace tightening.

He had recognised it the second he had seen it. He had given it to Phoenix for her birthday one year, a golden pirate ship. On the back she had engraved what she called the Deathly Hallows mark, and she had used some form of magic to hold a picture inside the gold. When she cradled it, a picture would form inside a ball of light just above the ship, and it was a picture of the three of them playing in the forest.

_Look Big Brother! Now whenever I feel lonely, I'll hold onto this, and you and Ace will be there with me. It will be my treasure, and I will never take it off!_

He wanted to destroy something so bad, but there was nothing on the ship he could vent with. Instead he screamed out his hate and launched himself into the crow's nest, the closest place he could go to be alone. He could hear his crew talking below, but he made no move to go down to talk to them. He was so afraid for Phoenix, she had vowed to never take off her necklace, it was a promise between the three of them that she would never be alone, but now she no longer had it.

"Crocodile will pay for this," he muttered. "I will make him pay for this. Phoenix, please be safe…"

**To Be Continued...**


	2. Onwards to Alabasta!

**Yes, I updated! BUT! I also rewrote chapter one so you have to go back and read that one first! I've changed a few things and added more in. I know it's been a really long time, and I'm glad everyone who reviewed (all 66 of you, wow that was more than I expected) wanted to see more. I have this story planned out up to the Timeskip, so I do actually have this figured out. I've added a bit of a back story for Paige, so hopefully that will clear up some things.  
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><p><strong>IF YOU HAVEN'T REREAD CHAPTER 1 DO SO FIRST! THEN YOU CAN READ THIS CHAPTER!<br>**

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><p><span><strong>Monkey D Phoenix<strong>

**Chapter 2 ~ Onwards to Alabasta!**

**Two Days Later…**

It took ages to get to Little Garden, but it hadn't taken long for Luffy to push his anger and hate to the side to pretend that nothing had happened with Miss All-Sunday. He wore Phoenix's necklace at all times, and one glare at Nami convinced her to not try and steal it. The entire crew knew that something had happened, but only Zoro was close to figuring out what it was exactly.

He knew that there was something on the Grand Line that Luffy wanted, aside from the One Piece, and that time was of the essence to find it. Each delay irritated Luffy, he could see that, and from his reactions he knew that the something he was looking for was in Alabasta, but it wasn't until Miss All-Sunday made her appearance that he realised it was a girl he was looking for. He guessed that she was a prisoner, clearly in Crocodile's grasp, but for some reason time was running out to help this girl.

Luffy was almost back to his normal self: goofing off with Usopp, annoying Zoro to play tag, and running all over the ship. It was like nothing was wrong, but there were signs that not all was well. After Zoro, Sanji noticed it, but that was only because he had become in tune with the way Luffy's stomach worked. The rubber boy had stopped eating as much as normal. He ate the same at every meal, but the times between meals weren't as often. He had a suspicion as to what had caused the change, and he had seen how violently sick Luffy was the first meal after Whiskey Peak, but there had to be more to the change in behaviour.

It wasn't anything big, and Luffy knew exactly what was wrong.

After Phoenix had been kidnapped, his diet had taken a sudden downturn as depression took a hold of him and taunted him with how weak he was. He had recovered, thanks to Ace and Makino forcing him to eat and Ace promising to look for her once he left to become a pirate, but every so often he would retreat into himself again. The mere thought that his little sister was being tortured and that there was nothing he could do to save her was tearing him apart. He wanted to get stronger for her, but all that strength meant nothing if he couldn't get to her.

Another reason he avoided drugs and alcohol. It made him depressed.

Little Garden had proved to be a great stress reliever, being able to violently beat up various agents of Baroque Works had helped his raging emotions a lot. The fact that three of his friends had nearly been killed by candle wax of all things had been hard, and fighting against the little painter girl had been awful as he couldn't lift a hand to defend himself. However, when Sanji showed up with an Eternal Pose to Alabasta, he gave him a hug of happiness and cheered. Sanji had freaked slightly when the boy had hugged him, but the expression on his face had caused him to allow it that one time.

But now, they were sailing away from an island few escaped from, and towards Alabasta. Luffy was just about dancing around the others, and Nami took the initiative to call him over and ask him what had made him so happy. Still dancing, Luffy just sung out an answer without joining them.

"A special person is in Alabasta, and I'm going to make her join my crew!"

But, his happiness high only lasted as long as it took for Nami to collapse from a high fever. He almost couldn't believe how cruel everything was. It seemed like every time he received some good news, bad news immediately followed. First, he learnt exactly where Phoenix was, and then they were delayed as they needed to help Apis. Second, he had a route to Alabasta and a reason for going without telling his crew, and then Miss All-Sunday rocks up to show that she is being hurt and that if he doesn't hurry he will miss her. And now, he was almost to his sister, but with Nami sick they wouldn't be able to sail safely making it even less likely that he would get to Phoenix before she disappeared again.

He followed everyone down into the girls' cabin, leaving Zoro behind to navigate, and watched what Vivi was doing. Nami looked awful, her face was flushed and it looked like she couldn't draw a full breath. He hadn't really had much experience with illnesses, but even he knew that whatever Nami had was bad.

"It's most likely the climate," Vivi said as she lay the cloth across Nami's forehead. "It's quite normal. See, sailors in the Grand Line aren't used to the change in weather and can become quite ill. There are countless stories of tough, notorious pirates who suddenly died."

Vivi explained to the others that because of the changing climates, a person's immune system was ravaged by colds and fevers until they just couldn't take it anymore. And she also warned that even the slightest cold could be deadly if they weren't careful. As Sanji cried out in despair, Vivi quickly asked if there was anyone on board who knew anything about medicine.

Wordlessly, Luffy and Usopp both pointed to Nami and that was when everyone knew that they were in worse shape than they first thought. Vivi looked anxiously as she smoothed out Nami's blankets.

"Well, when you're sick eating lots of meat always helps, right Sanji?" Luffy suddenly asked their cook.

Sanji sniffled a little as he looked to Luffy and answered him. "Meat is protein and that does give the body energy to operate properly. I can cook some food to give her energy, but there's no guarantee that it'll cure her, I'm not a doctor."

He looked to Nami sadly and went on in a forlorn way. "Besides, if my cooking made that big a difference, she'd never get sick. I put a hundred times more care in preparing her meals than I do for you losers. I feed Nami and Vivi fresh meats and vegetables to ensure balance diet… anything that's rotten or moldy…" he pointed to the boys. "…goes to you."

"JERK!" Usopp exclaimed, slapping his hand. Luffy nodded, the food still tasted great and he knew that Sanji would never poison the crew with bad food.

"My point, as long as I'm this ship's cook, nobody's going to feed Nami better in terms of nutrition," Sanji said firmly. "I can do anything in the kitchen…still, I do know that there are specific foods for different kinds of illnesses. But I can't make that call, she needs to be diagnosed by a doctor who'll tell us how to help her!"

"Just feed her everything that we got," Luffy suggested.

Sanji was just telling him that she was too sick to eat as Vivi checked her temperature and gasped out that she had a fever of a hundred and four. Luffy frowned deeper and his fists clenched. That temperature was a bad one, they needed to bring it down.

"There's bound to be doctors and nurses in Alabasta that can help, right?" Usopp asked anxiously as Vivi leaned back on her knees, "How much longer till we get there, Vivi?"

Vivi thought it all over, trying to think of a way out of this mess as she confessed, "I don't know, at least a week, and that's too long!"

A week. Luffy turned and left the room in order to check on Zoro. The swordsman was lifting a weight as his eyes focused on the horizon, though they flicked to Luffy when he appeared at his side. One look at his face revealed to him how serious everything was, and not just with Nami.

"We're running out of time, aren't we?" he eventually asked as his eyes returned to the horizon.

"Yes."

"And Nami?"

"Not good."

"What's the plan?"

"Nami won't make it to Alabasta as she is," Luffy said, his heart breaking with every word. His hands clenched the railing with a white-knuckled grip. "We need to find a closer island with a doctor on it."

The door behind them opened and Nami walked out, and even if she was pretending to be alright, both boys could see that she was far from well. She looked at the two of them, then out at the sea, and then at the Eternal Pose sitting next to Zoro.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked the swordsman.

"What's your problem?" Zoro asked, annoyed and concerned at the same time. "The ship is going straight isn't it?"

"Yeah, straight in the wrong direction!" Nami snapped. "Look at the Pose for crying out loud!"

"I don't have to look at that thing," Zoro stated, turning away from her. "We've been heading fo the biggest cloud over there the whole time."

"Clouds move you idiot!" Nami cried before her hands gripped her head painfully. "Ah, my head!"

"Then go inside and rest!" Zoro yelled.

Luffy watched her without speaking. He really hoped that it was just a cold, a change in the environment that caused her illness, but he also knew that it was a bit more serious than that. She looked like she was about to collapse, but still her eyes rose so that she was looking at the sky with furrowed eyebrows. She muttered something about the wind before spinning quickly to the two boys with the order to get everyone up on deck. Zoro did as ordered as Luffy stepped up to catch her before her legs gave out.

"Don't push yourself," he whispered as the others started to climb up from the girls' cabin. "I can't lose anyone else."

"What?" Nami breathed. Luffy said nothing as the others appeared on deck, but when Nami ordered for their heading to be altered, he was the first to move. Even as sick as she was, he trusted her to know what she was talking about. The boys copied him, curious about the order, but aside from a few complaints the task was done and they were heading in another direction. Vivi walked out from the cabin, a newspaper in her hand, and she stopped near Nami. She looked down at Luffy.

"I have to ask you a favor!" she began. "As a passenger on your ship, it's not my place to ask this, but I have no choice. My homeland is in jeopardy of being destroyed so I would really appreciate it if we could move even faster! Every minute that I'm out here, puts more of my people in danger of losing their lives. We need to head to Alabasta at full speed!"

The men were all looking at her with hard expressions. Luffy clenched his fists but didn't change his expression. He felt sorry for the girl, but his crew and his family would always come first. Even if it meant a million people would die, he would sacrifice it all to save a family member or a crewmate. But at the same time, if they didn't hurry to Alabasta, Phoenix would be lost to him.

"Of course we will," Nami said agreeably. She was leaning on the railing heavily but there was a smile on her face as she looked at the princess. "Just like we promised!"

Vivi smiled and suggested that they hurry up and find a doctor. After all, the only way they could move top speed was to get Nami healthy as soon as possible. The others sighed in relief, and Luffy did as well, but his heart was heavy.

"Right!" he called out, smiling tightly in agreement. "No one makes this ship move like Nami!"

Everyone agreed and Nami thanked her as she tried to walk over to her. She apologized… just before she fainted. Vivi caught her before she hit the deck, thankfully, but everyone's attention soon focused on the water behind the ship.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Usopp screamed in horror.

Not too far away, an enormous cyclone had appeared out of nowhere—one so big and large that it towered over them. The lightning flashed and the wind was so strong that even though they were far enough away not to have to worry about getting sucked in, the _Going Merry_ was tossed around like a toy in a bathtub.

"IT'S A CYCLONE!" Vivi screamed.

"IT'S HUGE!" yelled Luffy, hanging onto the mast. They all realised that they would have been caught in the centre of that if they had continued on with their heading, and it was Nami that ensured that they would make it out of that alive. Luffy ordered Vivi to get Nami inside, so that she could rest, and had the others start to search for an island. He pulled Sanji to the side and asked him to make Nami a soup so that she could get some food in her, and keep her hydrated.

He followed Vivi down into the girls' cabin and sat at Nami's desk. The princess looked really worried, but also determined as she fixed the cold cloth back on Nami's forehead. The newspaper she had been holding earlier was sitting on the desk, and Luffy quickly read the page that was opened, and felt his heart beat a little faster as fear grew in him. Apparently, three-hundred thousand of Alabasta's Imperial Soldiers had defected and joined the Rebel Army so that now the Rebels outnumbered the soldiers and the tide has changed. The paper was dated for three days previously.

"How do you choose?" Luffy asked softly, alerting Vivi to his presence.

"Choose what?" she asked curiously.

"Between family and friends…"

"I don't understand," Vivi told him, her brow furrowed. "I could see that you wouldn't have wanted to go to Alabasta with Nami like this, but you were all so concerned about me that I needed you to focus on your strength. Nami is sick, she needs a doctor, and she won't make it to Alabasta. Once she's healed we can go and stop the rebellion."

"The world won't wait," Luffy muttered. "When it comes to it, I don't think I could choose. My family…or my friends…what is the right choice?"

"Family is important," Vivi began. "But, I'm a princess and my first loyalty will always be to my country. As hard as it is, if I can save my country I will do whatever it takes. Wouldn't you do the same for your crew?"

"I would give everything I have to keep them safe," Luffy said without hesitation. "But…there's someone out there who is waiting for me, and with every delay she gets further away from me."

"The girl Miss All-Sunday spoke of? Who is she? Is she in Alabasta?"

"…she's my little sister," Luffy admitted, his voice lower than before. Nami was still conscious and her eyes widened at the confession. "Crocodile captured her a few weeks ago, and before I even got to the Grand Line my destination was going to be Alabasta to get her back. But we keep getting delayed, and I don't think I'm going to make it to her in time."

"I think you will," Vivi told him with a smile. "As soon as Nami's well again, the ship will fly through the water until we get to Alabasta. She'll be waiting for you there."

"There's still a week to Alabasta," Luffy stated as he stood. "Even if Nami was well, and this ship was going as fast as possible, I already know that I'm too late. If we had gotten here a week ago, without any delays, maybe I would have made it in time. I'm the one who has to live with that."

"Luffy…"

"Keep watch over Nami for me," the captain ordered. "I'm going to help look for an island for her."

He left the room and made himself comfortable on the figurehead. He held the gold necklace in his hand as he stared out at the ocean. Another delay, more time to spend on something else, and all the while Phoenix was being pulled further and further from his grasp. He wouldn't rest until she was by his side again…that he promised.

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><p><strong>Four Days Later…<strong>

The snowy kingdom of Drum didn't have many doctors, in fact they had two: one old lady and a reindeer. They lived in a castle on top of the tallest mountain on the island, and Luffy had climbed it hand over hand with Nami on his back and Sanji's jacket between his teeth. The cook had gotten himself injured on the trek up, so was unable to help with the climb. Luffy had passed out as soon as he reached the top, but the two doctors had helped his friends and he was able to rest easily.

Upon waking, meeting the reindeer and chasing it all over the castle to eat it, Luffy found himself sitting in one of the bedrooms with the still bed-ridden Nami and eating some of what Sanji had prepared earlier. The old woman, Doctor Kureha, was sitting at the table with him and Sanji was sitting next to Nami with a bowl of food in front of him to help her eat. Kureha had a newspaper in her hands, skimming through the articles, when Luffy choked on his food as he spotted the main article on the front page.

The Immortal Phoenix Captured! On Route to Impel Down!

He was so furious with the article title, not even bothering to read it, and stormed out of the room in order to break something. The others stared after him in shock, before their eyes focused on the newspaper curiously. Kureha stared at the title curiously, not understanding why the capture of another pirate angered him, and asked the other two about it.

"I've heard of the Phoenix," Sanji admitted. "But I have no idea what it means to Luffy. He doesn't normally act like that."

"Where was she captured?" Nami asked.

"Says a Warlord caught her and turned her in, not from where though, just that it was reported yesterday," Kureha stated.

At that moment the reindeer, Chopper, burst into the room stating that Wapol had returned to the kingdom. Nami was instructed to sleep to recover a bit more, but Sanji and Kureha followed Chopper to the front door in time to see Luffy angrily beat up the fat king-pirate from earlier. They didn't interfere, but after the first barrage Luffy returned to stand near them and Sanji looked at him in concern.

"You alright Captain?"

"No," Luffy stated shortly. "Let's beat up this guy and get to Alabasta. There's a crocodile I'm interested in killing."

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><p>A few hours later, after having defeated Wapol, recruited Chopper to join the crew, had new injuries treated, reunited with the rest of the crew, and skipped out on paying Doctor Kureha's bill, the Straw-hat Pirates were staring up at the tallest mountain in amazement. The old woman had set off every cannon with some kind of powder inside it, and the result was that the mountain looked like a giant sakura tree. It was beautiful, and it was the scene they left behind.<p>

The party on the ship was great, like always, and Luffy acted like he always did. But Sanji was looking at Luffy in contemplation, something that intrigued Zoro, so the swordsman ended up sitting next to the cook, watching their captain. Eventually, Sanji explained what had happened that concerned him, and Zoro h'mmed his understanding.

"We're too late then," Zoro summed up. Sanji looked confused and Zoro elaborated quietly so that they wouldn't draw attention. "He said before, there's a special person in Alabasta he wanted to join the crew. The fact that he got angry over that article makes me think the person he wanted to join the crew was Phoenix, but she's now gone from Alabasta. He also said he wanted to kill a crocodile right? Crocodile is a Warlord, he apparently captured her, and now she's been turned into the marines. So, we are too late, by at least a week I'd say."

"Damn," Sanji muttered. "He's been stressing over her, not eating as much as he normally would, and we didn't notice."

"He hasn't been acting completely normal since that woman gave him that necklace," Zoro observed as he took a drink. "I think his whole 'let's get to the Grand Line as quickly as possible' thing was to find her before she disappeared. Phoenix is renowned for not staying in one place for too long."

"We'll keep a closer eye on him," Sanji vowed. "We'll be to Alabasta in a week or so."

"Let's hope we don't get any more bad news before then."

In the middle of the party, Luffy was acting as silly as possible to exhaust himself further. It was great having a new crewmate, especially a doctor, and now that they were on the open water again they would be in Alabasta soon. He forced himself not to worry about Phoenix, she could escape whenever she wanted to, the marines meant nothing to her, but it was where she would end up that concerned him. She would probably lay low for a while, which meant he wouldn't be able to find her for a long time…

…if at all.

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><p><strong>One Week Later…<strong>

It took them a whole week to get to Alabasta, and in that time they had run out of supplies so they had no food, and rescued a weird ballerina cross-dresser guy who they discovered was Mr 2 after he returned to his own ship. They were docked at Nanohana at that moment, and Nami was giving last minute instructions to the crew so that they could do what they came to do. The main thing was to get supplies to last a trek through the desert, and not get recognised by any Baroque Works minion in the process.

Luffy didn't listen, and as soon as he could he jumped ship and ran into town with the intention of finding food and information as to where Phoenix could be now that she had been gone for a week. He didn't learn anything about her, sadly, but he did find something almost as good as his sister.

He had spotted Zoro staring in worry down the street, and he ducked out of sight of his crewmate before turning to see what he was looking at. A man wearing shorts, no t-shirt, and a bright orange hat was instantly recognizable, and as soon as he was out of sight of Zoro he sprinted down the street and jumped onto the man's back. The man cursed at the sudden weight, ignoring the reproachful looks from the people passing by, and shrugged off Luffy with difficultly.

"Luffy, you little brat," the man scolded. "A little more warning would have been nice."

"I got you good Ace," Luffy laughed as he was put back on the ground. "You've gotten slow in the last three years."

"I haven't had any annoying brothers or sisters jumping on me every second of every day," Ace protested. Luffy frowned at the reminder and Ace smiled sympathetically. He was happy to see his younger brother, and without another word he pulled him into a hug. Luffy returned the hug just as tightly, conveying how much he had missed him in their time apart.

"You've lost weight," Ace observed. "That, or you haven't gained any weight in three years. Come on, let's get something to eat."

"Not hungry," Luffy muttered, but nonetheless he allowed Ace to drag him to the nearest restaurant to eat. The older man ordered the food and when they sat down they started to talk about each other's' crew mates, ships and a few of the lighter adventures that they'd been on. Luffy wasn't eating much, just picking at his food, but his eyes were alight with wonder and joy as Ace spoke about his crew.

"You have some nerve, eating in public like this…Portgas D Ace and Monkey D Luffy."

The two brothers looked up at the new person but it was Luffy who recognised him instantly. He was Captain Smoker of the marines, based in Lougetown, and a man who had almost stopped Luffy from making it to the Grand Line at all.

"Smokie!" he smiled. He kicked the nearest chair out in invitation. "Join us, we're having lunch!"

"Friend of yours, Lu?" Ace asked curiously. "Didn't peg you as someone who would be on friendly terms with a marine."

"Smokie's alright!" Luffy insisted. "He actually believes in what he's doing. Grandpa would like him."

"What are the two of you doing here, together?" Smoker asked as he cautiously sat down. He refused the food Luffy pushed across to him, his eyes focused on the two of them cautiously.

"Just two brothers catching up," Ace said easily as he took another bite of food. "This is a restaurant after all. What are you doing here?"

"I've been looking for you, Straw-hat," Smoker revealed. "I told you that you had to defeat me to come to the Grand Line…you didn't. So I'm here to arrest you."

"Forget that," Luffy laughed. "I don't have time to be arrested. There's too much I need to do before that happens."

"What do you have planned coming here?" Smoker asked. "We intercepted a transmission, it was barely recognizable, but the few words we were able to understand led us to believe that you would be on your way here."

"I'm going to kill Crocodile," Luffy said seriously, no longer laughing. "He plans on destroying Alabasta, so I'm going to defeat him as a favour to Vivi…but he hurt someone important to me, so for that I'm going to kill him."

"What have you heard Lu?" Ace asked in concern. He didn't like how his brother shut down his emotions as the conversation continued. In response though, Luffy pulled out a necklace from under his clothes for the two men to see, though it was only Ace who understood.

"Shit," he whispered. "He's the one who turned her in?"

"I think he's done far more than that."

"Want some help? You seem to be more up-to-date with information than I am, and I'm on a quest of my own."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Smoker demanded. "Crocodile is one of the Seven Warlords, he's accountable to the World Government, are you saying that he has something to do with the problems in this country?"

"Yes," Luffy said simply, his eyes leaving Ace's to focus on the marine. "He's the cause of it, and I'm here to stop him."

"Are you here for the same reason, Portgas D Ace? Kill a Warlord?"

"No, but I may have to put that on my to-do list," Ace replied. "I'm here looking for a man who used be my crewmate. He killed another crewmate in cold blood, stabbing him in the back, so I'm hunting him down to take his life. No one should be able to get away with killing a crewmate. We're pirates, if we can't trust each other to watch our backs, who can we trust?"

Smoker nodded and blew out several smoke rings as he thought. The two pirates in front of him were completely different to most pirates. Aside from being painfully honest, they didn't seem to think like any other pirate Smoker had met. They seemed to care about friendship and people, more than money at least. They were almost like free-lance marines. It would also make it a pain to arrest them, but it was his duty to at least try.

"Despite what you've told me, I am a marine," Smoker began. "It is my duty to arrest you, but I'm not stupid enough to think that if I called for back-up, Headquarters would send more marines to apprehend Crocodile. They trust him, and won't lift a hand to interfere. So I'm going to give you a chance to escape to defeat him. If I catch you, too bad, but if I don't you have until this matter is resolved for me to try again. Sound fair?"

"Do we get a head start?" Luffy asked, a smirk growing on his face.

"You have until I get off this chair," Smoker told him, a smirk on his own face. The two brothers looked at each other, and then they ran after leaving some money on the table. To them, it felt like they were young again and running through the streets of High Town from police, but the consequences were a bit more serious this time if they were caught. Marines from all over the town started to chase them, and they agreed that it would be better to split up and meet back up later.

Luffy laughed as he ran, even when he spotted Smoker chasing him instead of Ace, and used his abilities to vault to different surfaces. The lowly marine grunts were no threat to him, but Smoker couldn't be hit and with his ability he could almost fly, so he was a big threat. He got turned around a few times, but eventually he spotted his crew and ran towards them with a bright smile and a wave.

"Ah! Luffy! Couldn't you have lost them before leading them to us?!" Zoro cried in anger as the six waiting pirates started to run with their supplies on their backs. Luffy just laughed in reply and picked up speed so that he was running beside the swordsman.

"Guess what I found?" he asked Zoro as they ran.

"Marines?" Zoro guessed sarcastically.

"Yep! But that's not all! I found Smokie as well!"

"Why is that a good thing?!" Zoro snapped as he looked over his shoulder. "The marines are trying to kill us!"

"They're just trying to make sure we don't get to our ship," Luffy said easily. "I ran into Smokie earlier. He should be here soon. I lost him for a bit but he's always been able to find me fairly quickly."

"I've got you now, Straw Hat!"

Luffy and Zoro looked back in time to see Captain Smoker appear at the front of the charge. Luffy grinned at him, before calling out.

"Not yet you don't! Aren't you forgetting someone?"

"**HEAT HAZE!**"

A band of fire erupted between the marines and the pirates as Ace jumped down from the roof between the two groups. Luffy cheered as the rest of his crewmates paled. The flames had freaked him out slightly, but he then realised that it was a Devil Fruit ability and his brother wasn't actually hurting from the fire.

"Fire-Fist Ace," Nami breathed.

"What's he doing here?" Sanji asked.

"Hey Luffy, stop staring and go," Ace ordered. "I'll hold them off for you."

Luffy laughed again and started to run, the others following behind him. Nami pulled up beside him and asked how he knew Fire-Fist Ace.

"That's easy," he stated with a smile. "He's my big brother!"

* * *

><p>Making it back to the ship was easy, though Luffy hadn't really wanted to leave without his brother. Instead, the ship sailed out from the dock so that they wouldn't be boarded by marines, and waited until they could spot Ace before sailing on. The crew watched Luffy bounce around, and a few of them realised that they hadn't seen a real smile on Luffy's face for quite a while. Ace used his abilities and a specially made boat for him to make it to the <em>Going Merry<em> and leapt on. He landed on the railing, and as soon as Luffy bounced passed him he grabbed him and pulled him close in what could have been called a hug, if Luffy hadn't been struggling against him.

"So this is your crew," Ace said. "They look nice."

"Yep! This is Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper," Luffy said, pointing to everyone awkwardly from his trapped position. "And Vivi and Carue are joining us for a while. They're all really great people!"

"It's nice to meet you all," Ace said, inclining his head politely.

"It's nice to meet you," everyone said in unison.

"Luffy just finished telling us that you were his brother," Nami continued.

"That's right, this little kid here is my younger brother," Ace said with a bright smile. "He's a handful, but it's good to see him doing well."

"I've never not been well," Luffy stated with a smile up at his brother, still in his grasp. Ace snorted in disbelief before releasing the younger captain to join his crew. He watched how the boy interacted with the others, and he sighed when he realised that the boy was acting like he had when they were younger. It was something that bugged him to no end, when Luffy pretended everything was alright when in reality he was far from alright.

"He's been less cheerful since he got that necklace," Zoro revealed, leaning against the railing next to Ace. "The woman who gave it to him fled in terror, but I will say that that is the first time Luffy has truly scared me."

"How long ago was that?" Ace asked.

"A little more than two weeks ago," Zoro revealed. "Before that he was like a child on a sugar high. He was so excited to have arrived in the Grand Line, and then everything went downhill for him. Who is she? The girl the necklace belongs to?"

"He hasn't told you?"

"We only know that it's a girl he's looking for because he admitted that she was in Alabasta and she was going to join the crew."

"Ah damn," Ace muttered. "That explains a lot."

The ship rocked suddenly, throwing everyone off balance and causing them to look forward and gasp at the four marine vessels bearing down on them. Ace sighed and stood up.

"I'll take care of this, I won't be long," he ordered Luffy. Luffy grinned and waved as Ace leapt backwards onto his small boat and sped off towards the marines. The Straw-Hat Pirates watched in curiosity as in one powerful strike Ace destroyed all four vessels. Luffy grinned, unsurprised, while the rest of his crew were more than surprised.

"He's really strong," Nami observed. "He defeated them with one blow."

"And he's polite," Sanji added. "Are we sure that he's related to Luffy?"

"It doesn't seem possible," Usopp murmured. "But Luffy's pretty strong too."

"They must have trained together a lot," Chopper stated.

"Ace is the strongest person I know," Luffy explained. "One day I'm going to beat him."

"You mean that there's an actual flesh and blood person who you've lost to?" Nami asked in shock.

"Oh yeah, I've never been able to beat him or-" Luffy froze before he could finish his sentence and his face closed off.

"Or who?" Usopp asked. "There are two people you can't beat?"

"He could never beat Paige either," Ace replied instead as he returned. "She's the strongest out of all of us."

"Who's Paige?" Chopper asked.

Ace looked at Luffy once, and caught the nod that it was alright to talk about. Luffy turned his head away slightly, looking at the damage as the ship sailed around the burning wood. He ordered Sanji to prepare something eat, and the crew filed into the kitchen so that they could sit comfortably as Ace spoke about his and Luffy's past.

"Paige is our little sister," he began. "But she goes by Phoenix now. It's been three years since we've seen her, she's really hard to catch."

"Phoenix?" Sanji asked. "As in, the Immortal Phoenix?"

"Yes," Luffy said with a nod. He was uncharacteristically standing by the door, staring out at the ocean and almost ignoring what was going on behind him.

"So that's why you were angry when we were at Drum?" Sanji asked him. "Because you read in the paper…"

"I've known that she was in Alabasta since Lougetown," Luffy told him. "I also knew that Crocodile had caught her, though how he kept her for so long is a mystery as she doesn't normally let other people control her. A week ago she was handed over to the marines."

"That's why you didn't want to help Apis," Zoro realised suddenly. "Because by helping her, we wasted time, if we hadn't helped her, we would have gotten here in time."

"We can't know that," Luffy said sharply. "Besides, I made a choice then and I stand by it. Phoenix will be fine on her own for a bit longer. She's strong."

"Doesn't stop us from worrying though," Ace stated. "You'll see why when you meet her, but despite all her strength and intelligence, she's only fourteen."

"Thirteen," Luffy corrected. "Her birthday is next week."

"So young," Usopp muttered.

"She's not here now," Luffy continued, looking at his crew for the first time since the conversation started. "But Crocodile hurt her, so I'm going to hurt him. After he's been defeated is when I'll start searching for her again."

He left the room, ignoring Sanji when he announced that lunch was ready. Ace sighed as he left, and turned back to the crew who looked shocked when Luffy turned down food. Usopp and Nami in particular looked panicked, but Zoro and Sanji seemed resigned. Vivi and Chopper weren't accustomed to Luffy yet, but it was only a matter of time before they realised how unlike Luffy it was to turn down food.

"I see his depression has returned," he stated. He looked to Zoro. "You say that it's been two weeks?"

"Almost three," Zoro stated with a nod.

"Depression," Chopper muttered. He looked sad. "I didn't notice."

"Luffy's good at hiding his feelings," Ace said with a soft smile. "He's been doing it for years. And you're new to the crew, if I remember Luffy's explanation correctly. There's no way you would have been able to pick up on his behaviour without knowing him beforehand."

"I'm a doctor," Chopper insisted. "I'm supposed to know these things. There are many medicinal solutions to depression, I could prescribe him something to help him cope."

"Don't," Ace ordered. "Drugs will make it worse. They always have, no matter what they were meant to do. Anything that can mess with the mind is something that Luffy should avoid at all costs."

"He was drugged at Whiskey Peak though," Vivi stated. "He didn't look depressed then."

"He was trying to kill me," Zoro told her. "Remember? He said back then that drugs make him irrational and he doesn't know what he's doing under its influence."

"Was that before or after he got the necklace?"

"Before, but the drugs were still in his body when he received it."

"He's not eating as much as he was when I joined the crew," Sanji revealed as he set lunch out on the table. "He's almost halved the amount of food he eats a day."

"In three years he still weighs the same as he did when he was fourteen," Ace told him as he started to eat. "He won't get better until he finds Phoenix, but at least he's still eating. When she first disappeared he almost broke…didn't help that he was the last one to see her."

"What happened?" Nami asked curiously.

"Three years ago a slavers ship docked on our island. This is before I left, and Grandpa was sprouting some nonsense about how she was going to be a marine, a marine's wife, or a permanent inmate in Impel Down on account of her abilities. She stormed out and was captured, but I think she had been caught with other children as she would have been able to escape easily had she been alone. The marine ship that was there to pick up Grandpa fired on the slavers ship without getting the captured children off, thankfully Phoenix had already done that, but Phoenix hadn't been able to get off herself and when the gunpowder ignited she went up in flames."

"And Luffy saw that happen?" Usopp asked, his face pale.

"Yep," Ace sighed. "He hasn't been the same since. I don't know if he's gotten over it, but he had this terrible fear of fire, couldn't go near it without panicking and calling out to Phoenix."

"How could she still be alive?" Vivi asked tearfully. Ace looked uncomfortable at that question, but answered it nonetheless.

"Phoenix can't die. She will always wake up again, and if she loses a limb, it will grow back in a couple of hours. The scars she keeps, but her soul will never pass on and keeps returning to her body. I shudder to think about what Crocodile did to keep her, and I know Luffy's doing his best to not think about it."

"Everyone dies," Chopper told him.

"Phoenix can't," Ace leant back on the chair, staring at nothing as he recalled his childhood. "She told us once that she was the Master of Death. _The Master of Death is someone who can command the dead, while at the same time being forever barred from death._"

"Scary!" Usopp moaned.

"Command the dead?" Sanji asked. "What does that mean?"

"It means that if she wanted, she could raise an invincible army completely loyal to her and impossible to defeat. I don't know much more than that, but that is not her only power. If there is a human who could be a God, she is the closest anyone could ever come."

"Then why do you worry?" Zoro asked. "If she can't die, you know she'll be alive the next time you see her."

"I know she'll be alive physically, but she still feels pain," Ace explained. "She can still be tortured to death, and then she'll wake up and be tortured to death again. I'm afraid of what will happen if she mentally snaps, for she could become the most dangerous person in the world…and no one would be able to stop her until she's destroyed everything."

The pirates were silent as they thought about that. A child with the ability to destroy the world, a child who would never stay dead, it was a scary thought. But then they thought about how happy Luffy had looked when he thought he was getting closer, and how angry he had gotten when Miss All-Sunday had taunted him with Phoenix's necklace, and they decided that they would do their best to find and save the child from herself. She was already a part of their crew after all.

After lunch the crew returned to the deck to see Luffy sitting on the figurehead, silently watching the ocean. They all gathered around, not saying anything about their discussion, but giving him the support to know that they'd follow him wherever he led them. Ace leapt onto the railing by the figurehead in order to talk semi-privately with him, and with a sigh he noticed that Luffy had been crying.

"Do you think she hates me?" he asked quietly.

"She would _never_ hate you," Ace promised. "You were the only one who she told everything to, and you were also the only one who could see through that cloak of hers. Not even grandpa could see through it. She was the only one you would let wear your hat, and you were the only one she would listen to."

"She listened to you."

"Not all the time," Ace chuckled. "Maybe it's because you asked her to join your crew first, and ever since then she's looked to you as her captain. But that necklace was her treasure, I know it has images of us in it, and you were the one who arranged for her to have it. She would do anything you asked of her."

"Then why doesn't she wait for me? Is she running from me?" Luffy felt more tears run down his cheeks.

"She's scared," Ace whispered. "Who knows what Crocodile did to her? She most likely doesn't know that you're on your way."

"I want her back, Ace," Luffy whispered, even softer than Ace. "I want my sister back."

"We'll get her, I promise Lu," Ace looked back at his brother's crew with a small smile. "And your crew will back you up all the way."

Luffy nodded and dried his eyes, retreating once more behind his masks. He joined in with the Chopper and Usopp who had drinks near them, and started to toast random things. They recognized his need to focus on something else, and allowed it, but they all promised to keep an eye on how he behaved throughout the journey.

"Ace, are you sure you don't want to join us?" Luffy asked, a tad hopefully. "It'll be fun, I promise."

"I can't right now, I'm chasing someone," Ace admitted. "He's a pirate, named Blackbeard."

"Blackbeard?" Usopp muttered.

"I've heard of him," Vivi admitted. "He's the one who attacked Drum Kingdom."

"You see, Blackbeard used to be a member of the Second Division of the Whitebeard Pirates," Ace explained. "He was one of my own men, but he committed the most unforgivable sin a pirate could…he killed one of his fellow crew members and then he jumped ship. As Commander of his Division, it's my responsibility to take care of it."

"So that's why you're after him," Usopp mumbled.

"I came here because I'd heard that Blackbeard was seen in Alabasta, a place called Yuba, so that's where I'm headed," Ace revealed.

"Hey," Nami realised. "That's our destination too, right?"

"Exactly," Vivi told her. She pulled out a map and lay it on the ground before them. All the pirates gathered around in order to see it better. "We've just entered the Sandora River. We'll take it Erumalu where we'll dock, and then we'll proceed on foot until we reach Yuba, here. The leader of the Rebel Army is there, that's where we're going."

"You don't say," Ace muttered from above them all. "You mind if I tag along?"

"Nami, Vivi, I'll follow you anywhere!" Sanji babbled like a love-sick fool. "Just tell me where to go!"

"Hopefully it's somewhere off of a cliff," Zoro told him.

"What did you say Zoro?!" Sanji yelled at him, losing his star-struck appearance.

"Cool it you two!" Nami ordered. "Well, looks like you'll be with us for a little while Ace."

"We're all really happy to have you aboard," Usopp told Ace, his expression suddenly very confident. Luffy started to laugh loudly, he didn't really care what had brought Ace back to him, he was just happy to have some family around. He wondered if he could convince Ace to stay until they found Phoenix.

"This is going to be fun!" he stated. "To Ace!"

"Cheers!"

**To Be Continued...**


End file.
